They were all laughing on the floor in her room. Nino laying down, head propped up in Alya's lap as she sat with her back against a pile of blankets. Adrien sitting cross-legged next to them. All three of them laughing at a joke Nino had just spouted. She hadn't heard it over the roaring of her heartbeat in her ears. She knew she was working herself up into a panic attack, but she still struggled trying to reign in her breathing. Marinette felt a soft press against her chest where Tikki was nestled away in her jacket pocket.

On wobbling legs, Marinette rose from her chair. She crossed her arms over her stomach, her shoulders unconsciously drawing up in an effort to make herself smaller. For a few moments, she just stood there, chewing on her lip as anxiety gripped her heart tighter. She could still back out of this; she could so easily just sit back down and pretend that she had only invited her three closest friends over to hang out. But that was a lie. They were here for a reason, even if they didn't know what it was. As if the small kwami could hear the turmoil her charge was working herself into, there was another firm press against her breast pocket.

They had spoken about this. Tikki thoughtfully listening as Marinette had panic attacks and stumbled over lies, when the young teen had woken up from nightmares of Alya and her other friends finally having enough of her half-assed lies. Of her waking up one day alone. The stress was eating her charge alive and the kwami was actually the first to bring up telling them. At first, the young hero was against the idea; secret identities were secret for a reason. But what hero truly had no one else know?

She had chosen her three best friends. Her parents, she thought, would simply balk at the idea of their precious child jumping across rooftops in the middle of the night. For a couple days she had thought it might be nice to tell a teacher, so that she could maybe salvage her academic life from crumbling to pieces, but then decided only one teacher couldn't do and she didn't want to tell too many people. Besides, she figured that would only guarantee her parents finding out. So she had chosen them. The three laughing teens who were currently working themselves into tears over what was, in all likelihood knowing Nino, a meme.

It was Adrien who sobered from his laughter first. He saw her standing there, posture defensive, and his face dropped any traces of humor. Alya caught this and followed his gaze to her best friend, quickly becoming concerned. She slapped Nino's arm, shutting him up because, despite how much she liked the boy, he couldn't read the damn room for his life. And with the sudden silence, Marinette found herself unable to back out anymore. They knew something was wrong. She couldn't lie well enough to soothe their concern. This was it.

"Marinette? What's going on, girl?" Alya asked, brushing her boyfriend into a sitting position and standing. The brunette slowly stepped towards the other girl. "Are you okay?"

She was shaking, trembling. Tightening her grip on her elbows, she pulled her arms tighter across her stomach. Her eyes were glued to her feet. "I… I need to…" Her voice caught and she swallowed thickly. There was more comforting pressing against her chest. "I need to show you something. But you can't ask questions. And you can't tell anyone." She lifted her eyes to see three very concerned faces.

"Mari?" Alya said, stepping closer, placing a hand on her taunt arm. "What the hell, girl? Don't say scary stuff like that. What's going on?"

Marinette clenched her jaw and pulled back a little. "Just… just watch," she whispered. She turned around so they wouldn't see Tikki-they had decided they didn't know how it happened. In silent agreement and flash of pink, Marinette turned into Ladybug.

She turned for a moment, meeting the gazes of shock. Not even sure if she was still breathing, she turned, dropping the transformation and allowed Tikki to return to the pocket before meeting what was sure to be the explosive reaction, her only comfort being the magic being pressing against her chest, a constant warmth and pressure against her heart.

Three shocked faces, white with equal parts confusion and disbelief. She supposed this was natural. Marinette was hard to see as Ladybug, after all. She wasn't as pretty and nowhere near as graceful. After a few more moments of silence, her broken whisper shattered the stillness. "I'm Ladybug."

In the moment after those words, several things happened. Nino's phone fell from his hand and landed on the carpet with a dull thud as he leaned back against the pile of blankets, putting his head in his hands; Alya covered her mouth with her hand and she closed her eyes, stumbling back a couple steps before standing still; Adrien turned pale and he gripped his thighs until his knuckles were also white. And Marinette just stood there, shaking, breath caught in her lungs, waiting.

Nino finished processing first. He sat up straighter and shook his head. "This explains so much." The boy stared at her for a few moments before abruptly standing. Part of her panicked for a moment when he started walking. Was he going to leave? Then he was in front of her, pulling her into a hug. "Breathe, Mari; don't forget to breathe." Suddenly a shuddering sob fled her mouth and she held onto him. She stepped back after a few moments and he smiled softly at her.

The sound of Alya throwing her phone onto the pile of blankets drew their attention away from each other. The brunette looked like a mess. A thousand emotions crossing her face. "How did I not see it?" she asked quietly. "You were right there the entire time. You lied to me on a daily basis. How did I not-" She breathed out sharply and brought a clenched fist to her mouth as she bit her knuckle. "I wanted to expose you! I could have put you in so much danger, Mari!"

Nino side stepped just in time as Alya flew to the hero and pulled her into a tight hug. The two girls hugged each other tightly before Alya yanked Nino back in. "I'm sorry," Marinette whispered, eyes wet. "I've been lying to all of you for a long time. I'm so sorry."

Alya shushed her. "Don't. It's okay. It's okay. You had to. God, you've been doing all of this by yourself for a long time."

They held each other for a couple minutes before they pulled back with wet laughs, Alya and Marinette rubbing wet mascara from each other's eyes. There were a few more tearful giggles and one more quick hug before Marinette saw Adrien still sitting there, a haunted look on his face. Suddenly her stomach twisted. She bit her lip and stepped towards him a little. "Adrien…?"

His head snapped up and he stared at her with wide green eyes. Her throats started tightening again and she bit her lip harder to try to keep herself from panicking too much. She felt Nino and Alya standing close behind her and felt Tikki faithfully pressing against her chest and tried to take comfort from it. "I'm… I'm sorry," she told him softly.

For a moment, his face clouded, then a bright smile filled his face. "Marinette, you're amazing!" he enthused, standing. "Don't be sorry! You're a hero!" He walked over to her and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Thank you for saving us all the time. You're amazing!"

She let out a shuddering breath and smiled. "It's not just me out there," she reminded him softly. "I'm just one half of amazing."

It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Adrien would be lying he said he never imagined finding out who Ladybug was. In his imagination, it had always happened dramatically after a battle, or maybe romantically on the top of the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame. But it was always supposed to be to Chat Noir. Never to Adrien.

Yet, this is where he found himself, sitting in Marinette's room just barely an hour after she transformed into Ladybug in front of him, Nino, and Alya.

What was he supposed to do? His Lady, a princess he had once saved as her black knight in leather armor, a sweet baker, a talented designer, his good friend all rolled into one. Any other time, the information would have made him happy. Marinette was perfect. She was everything Ladybug was, yet so different. It was like he had just watched two halves come together to complete a whole human in front of his eyes. Any other time he would have marveled at her.

But this was wrong. It was all wrong.

It wasn't supposed to be Adrien. Why was it Adrien? Why Nino and Alya? Why anyone but Chat?

He was watching the three of them. Laughing a little, eyes still wet from the reveal, but he couldn't even find it in himself to pretend he was okay. He was falling apart inside. He couldn't breathe. He felt like the very fabric his world had rested on was being ripped in half inside of his heart. He could vaguely feel the worried petting Plagg was doing against his neck, the kwami desperately trying to comfort him without being able to say anything.

Adrien felt sick. Marinette could barely speak to him. He was a model with international status. Nino couldn't keep a secret for more than a day and Alya-Alya ran the Ladyblog! How could Ladybug trust any of them not to tell more than she trusted Chat Noir, her faithful partner? There was no one he trusted more than Ladybug-Marinette. How could she ever trust them more than him?

Part of him felt guilty thinking like this. He knew Nino wouldn't tell anyone and Alya would reign back her blogging and merciless investigating. She would never tell a soul she found out who Ladybug was and, if Adrien was honest with himself, even though he had never thought of telling Marinette he was Chat Noir, despite their limited communication, even before he knew she was Ladybug, he knew she would have kept the secret.

Despite all of this, he would never had told anyone but Ladybug first. He had never thought of telling anyone but Ladybug before. It would make his life infinitely easier if her told Nathalie, or even some of his instructors. Telling his friends would have also released him for the obligatory guilt he felt when he had to ditch plans to save Paris, but, even though he knew all of this, he never even entertained the idea of telling anyone but Ladybug.

It just hit him in the stomach again, and he felt winded for a moment, struggling to breathe when everything he thought he knew was destroyed. Was he not good enough for her as Chat? God, he tried. He tried to be enough, to be perfect in helping her save Paris. He had never felt like he was enough as Adrien, the model son, and for a long time Ladybug had made him feel like he was everything she could ever need from a partner. Had he just been seeing things he desperately wanted? There was more worried petting, harder, warmer this time from Plagg.

Adrien suddenly wanted to leave. He wished he would be called for a photoshoot. He wanted to get out. But he knew no word would come until late evening for him to return home. Nathalie had spun a lie about Adrien being in a group project that needed to work all day today to his father to give him the ability to hang out with his friends. At the time, he had been thankful for the much needed break, but, now, he wished it hadn't happened.

He was about to sprout a lie, grab his phone and pretend he had gotten a message. It wouldn't be too far-fetched a story for his friends to believe, right? Then, just as he started to reach for his phone in his pocket, Nino's words stopped him in his tracks.

"Marinette," Nino started, adjusting his glasses nervously, "I know you said we couldn't ask questions-and I don't want to betray your trust and pry I… I just-why now?" He looked up to where Marinette sat on her chair near them. "Why did you tell us now?"

Why did you tell us? He wanted to add, but he bit his tongue and clutched tightly to his knees as he watched Marinette, God, as he watched Ladybug look down and squirm a little under their gazes. God, Ladybug was Marinette. She sat behind him every day. She stuttered when she spoke to him, tripped on thin air, created art out of nothing, and made people smile without an effort. No one could have made a better Ladybug; how hadn't he seen it before? The same blue eyes, the same bright smile, he had seen the same confidence when she stood up against Chloé, and she had the same fucking hair, how could he had not seen it?

His emotions were scattered. One moment he was in awe that she had been with him the entire time, the two of them having been drawn together even in their civilian lives; the next moment his entire world was being torn apart because she hadn't trusted him to know who she is.

After a minute of silence, Marinette finally spoke up. "I talked about it for a long time with a… friend of mine. They thought it was best if someone besides me knew," she finally said in a small voice. A friend? Was there another person who knew her identity before she felt she could trust Chat? His heart was slamming against his ribs as his eyes stung. He clenched his jaw and dug his fingers into his knees. There was more frantic petting and even a murmured purr against the back of his neck from Plagg to try to soothe his distress.

Nino nodded. "Oh, so Chat Noir is okay-"

With a small frown Marinette shook her head. "No, it wasn't Chat. It's… a friend; she's like a guide I was given with my powers," she explained vaguely. A guide? It was her kwami who said it was okay for her to tell people other than him? He could feel Plagg's equal surprise because his gentle purr had faltered for a moment before resuming.

Nino, having felt that he was pushing too much, just nodded, looking away for a second. "But why did you tell us?" Again, Adrien pushed down the need to correct the emphasis and ask why she had told them.

There was more silence and Adrien could only stare at her, dozens of memories and facts sliding together to paint an entire picture of a beautiful girl he had considered his best friend but now, as his stomach jerked and rolled with betrayal, he began to question himself.

"It was too much." Her voice was broken and part of him cried out because his Lady was in pain, but so was he and he needed answers. "I couldn't do it anymore. I was-I was lying to my best friends, my teachers, my parents-and I-I just…" Marinette stopped and rubbed at her eyes. "I was having nightmares and panic attacks and I can't do this alone anymore."

Do you think this is easy for me? He wanted to scream at her. Do you not think I feel the same way? I'm living two lives of lies. I can't breathe with all this responsibility. Don't you think I want help too? Instead, Adrien clenched his jaw tighter and breathed out unsteadily through his nose, closing his eyes to hold back the stinging in his eyes.

"Wait," Alya said suddenly, making Adrien look at her. Her face was twisted in confusion. "Wait, did you say alone? So Chat Noir doesn't… he doesn't know?" His heart twisted violent because even the reporter who wanted to out them to the world knew this was wrong-for them to know before he did.

Marinette had the decency to look ashamed, he supposed. She looked steadily down at her feet and wouldn't meet their wondering gazes. "No," she said, her voice barely even a whisper. "I haven't told Chat." The girl looked towards her balcony and bit her lip. "Chat doesn't know who I am or that I was going to tell anyone."

"Why?" he blurted. She turned to look at him and he tried to reign back his hurt to try to portray natural curiosity when that was the furthest thing he felt. He felt betrayed and lied to. He felt like everything he thought they had been through and shared was nothing to her anymore. "Why didn't you tell him?"

Her eyebrows drew up and she chewed on her bottom lip. "You don't understand.. I can't tell him…" She crossed her arms around her stomach slid down a little in her chair. "I… I can't tell Chat…"

"Why not?" Adrien could feel the sharp edge in his voice and couldn't even try to hold it back. "Why can't you tell him? Do you not… Do you not trust him?" His voice fell into a quiet, broken whisper and he breathed softly, trying to gain a handle on himself.

Marinette's eyes flashed and she shook her head. "No! It's not that!" Her voice was shaking and thickly wet. She squeezed her eyes shut and she clasped her hands together in her lap tightly. "No, I trust Chat more than anyone. I trust Chat more than anyone in my life, including you guys."

"Then why?" he asked, voice broken. He could feel Nino and Alya staring at him, but Marinette was caught up in her own pain. "Why won't you tell him?"

There was palpable silence. He watched as she toyed with her earrings-her Miraculous earrings. Ladybug was right in front of him and she couldn't even talk to him. She couldn't find it in herself to even tell him who she was.

"I don't trust myself," she finally whispered. "I don't trust myself to be enough for him."

Adrien's breath caught in his throat. "Wait, what?" Nino asked, eyes snapping to her. "What do you mean not enough? You're Ladybug."

She sniffled and scrubbed at her eyes. "No, I'm not," she told them, "I'm not Ladybug. The powers are Ladybug. Chat Noir fucking idolizes Ladybug. And I'm just…" She threw her hands out to gesture at herself. "I'm just Marinette." She sat up higher in her chair. "Chat-he trusts Ladybug with his life, he tells me every day that he does. He thinks I can do no wrong and that I'm perfect. How fucking crushed do you think he'll be when I show him who I am and he sees I'm just Marinette?"

He just stared at her, heart slamming uncontrollably against his chest. What-what was she even saying? Marinette sniffed hard and used the sleeve of her jacket to dry her cheeks. "I trip on thin air, I have terrible luck, I literally have the worst fucking case of verbal diarrhea in the world. I'm-I'm not superhero material. I'm just a clumsy baker's daughter, guys. I'm-I can't fucking compete the stupid pedestal everyone puts me on and I hate not being perfect enough."

The three friends just stared at her as she balled her hands into fists and pressed them into her eyes.

"Why us?" Alya asked in a quiet voice, after they had sat in silence. "I put Ladybug on that pedestal. I cherished you. Adrien's one of your biggest fanboys; I just-why would you tell us?"

Marinette smiled bitterly and sniffled. "Because you loved Marinette the way she was. You like the bad things about me and… And I've always felt that if you three had to choose between saving Marinette and Ladybug, you'd choose me."

Adrien felt sick. He felt like he was going to genuinely throw up. Everything his father had made him felt-he had pushed that onto his Lady and-and holy fuck if he had to choose between saving Marinette and Ladybug, he would have chosen his Lady and, while he felt betrayed and lied to, he also felt like he let her down.

It took a couple minutes of Alya and Nino hugging a tearful Marinette before he was able to slip away to her bathroom. He leaned over the sink and looked at himself over in the mirror. A shuddering breath fell from his lips and Plagg floated out to look at him. Adrien looked at him helplessly.

"Did I really make her feel… like she was on a pedestal?" he asked, the word feeling like poison on his mouth.

The kwami looked apologetic. "You treated her like a hero," he said softly, "when she's just a teenage girl who was given some powers. Just like you get treated like a star, when you're just a teenage boy who has some pictures of him taken."

Adrien felt nausea rip through him and he closed his eyes. "Thank you, Plagg," he murmured, "for being there all this time."

Plagg floated back to his collar and gave a soft purr of comfort. "Anything for you, kitten."

Late that night, Ladybug was racing across the roofs to their meeting point. Her eyes felt gritty from crying so much that day. Her throat still felt tight and her limbs felt like jelly. She knew that Tikki was supporting her more than she did on a usual night, but the kwami had told her before they had left that this was a necessary patrol and not to worry about testing her limits-she was miraculous, after all. It had caused them both to weakly laugh before the teen called for her transformation.

She saw him before he saw her. Her heart twisted with guilt for a moment-she never thought she would ever tell anyone before she told Chat, but it was something that had happened. Now, she paused as she landed behind him, she didn't know what to say to him. Should she tell him that she had revealed herself to people today? She just watched him for a moment, as he hung his head from where he was perched.

Ladybug wouldn't tell him tonight. He looked visibly down and she couldn't add to his sadness.

"Hey there, Kitty," she whispered as she approached him.

His shoulders tensed and he kept his face trained away from her. "Evening, Ladybug," he responded, overly cordial. Chat Noir looked to the east. "I'll take this direction. We'll meet back up in an hour?" Despite it being presented as a question, he didn't await a response before he took off in the direction he had indicated.

She watched him go and sighed, touching her earrings to draw comfort from Tikki for a moment. Whatever had upset her partner must have been something drastic. It upset her that there was something going on in his personal life that she couldn't help with. Ladybug knew that she could help him-she could tell him who she was, but it would make everything worse.

A sigh fell from her lips and she turned the west. She would run her patrol and then try to soothe him after they met up again. She'd wait a while before she told him that she had let others know who she was before him.

It was just under an hour when she landed on the same rooftop. She let out a breath as she watched Chat sit in the same position as when she first saw him tonight. Ladybug walked up to him and stood close behind him, reaching out to touch his shoulder softly. "Chat, are you okay?" she asked him quietly.

His ears drew back against his head and his tail curled around his own leg. "It's nothing, Bugaboo," he answered back. "Just civilian stuff, you know?"

Ladybug frowned. "I know it's civilian stuff but… We can talk if you want, Kitty. We don't have to be specific." She looked down for a moment at her feet and swallowed thickly. "You're one of my best friends, Chat. I care about you and I want to help you anyway I can."

Chat Noir closed his eyes tightly and turned around, startling her. He looked at her with distraught eyes and clenched his jaw tightly. "I don't think you want, Bug," he said roughly, turning away from her again. "I just… don't even know what to do anymore. I feel so torn. On one hand, I'm so fucking hurt and the other hand I hate what I've done." He breathed out loudly and curled his hand into a fist.

Ladybug felt her eyebrows draw up together and she squeezed his shoulder softly. "I don't know what you're talking about," she started slowly, "but I doubt you could have done something too bad, Chat. You would never purposefully hurt anyone…"

He shrugged her off. "Of course it wasn't on purpose but that-that doesn't make any of it okay, Ladybug!" The hero furrowed his brow and looked over the city from where he stood. "It doesn't make anything that happened today okay…"

Something had really upset her kitty today and she didn't know what to say to make it better. "I'm sure everything will work out, Kitty," she tried to soothe.

Chat turned to face her suddenly. "No it won't!" he burst out. "None of this will be okay-Lady, I fucking-I did the one thing I promised myself I would never do to another person. I hated it so much I promised I wouldn't make another person feel like this and… and…" He scuffed his foot against the roof in frustration. His fingers curled into a tight fist and his hand trembled with the force.

She reached of his arm. "Hey, hey, Chat, it's okay," she tried to reason. "I'm sure it's not that bad…"

"It is that bad, Ladybug," he shouted. "I can't fucking believe I made you feel like that. Don't you think I hate being on a fucking pedestal too, Marinette?"

Her heart stopped and his eyes widened. She stumbled back from him and she stared at him. "W-what did you just call me?"

He blamed his bad luck and his emotional heart. It had to have been that lethal combination that led to Plagg detransforming him on the Paris rooftop. He had gone from an upset Chat Noir to a distraught Adrien Agreste standing in front of a pale, shocked Ladybug.

The two teens stood there on the roof, staring at each other in mutual levels of horror and distress. Things were so messed up between them right now and he didn't even know where to start talking to her again, but he knew now was his turn to speak. So he breathed in deeply and tried to sort his thoughts.

Adrien wiped at his face and turned his face away from her. "I hate being the model son. I hate being the model. I hate…" He let out a shuddering breath. "I hate that you didn't tell me. I… I hate that you felt like I idolized Ladybug so much I didn't care about Marinette. I'm sorry but I'm so hurt too," he continued. "We promised… and-and…"

Suddenly Ladybug was Marinette and they were standing there watching each other. He looked away for a moment. There was still so much he had to say, but a lot of it he couldn't hold onto. Just like his emotions earlier today, his thoughts were scattered all over the place and he felt like he was grasping at fading straws.

So he just kept trying to keep talking. "You were right," he found himself saying, "about what you said earlier today. If I had to choose between Marinette and Ladybug, I would have saved Ladybug… but that's because she's important-you're important, Marinette. Nothing can be fixed without you." Adrien took a deep breath and swallowed thickly.

Her face looked like it was beginning to crumble into tears and he felt like he was being torn apart twice-once for hurting her and once for her hurting him. "You should ask our classmates one day what they think school would be like without you," he told her softly. "I don't know why you would ever think Marinette has to compete with Ladybug because you're the same-you're two halves of a whole."

"A-Adrien…" She bit her lip and looked away. "I never wanted to hurt you… You're my best friend. I-I…" Marinette wrapped her arms around herself. "I just want to be good enough for you… for everyone."

He sighed and watched her for a moment. The same blue eyes, the same hair, and yet so different, but part of him found that so endearing-that, even under all the vulnerability, she was strong and brave. Adrien felt oddly proud of her because of it, but there were so many things they needed to work on now. "We… we clearly have some problems we need to talk about," he said quietly. She nodded and rubbed at her eyes.

Releasing a soft breath, he reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Her arms slid around his waist and she buried her face into his chest. Without prompting and in bright flashes of green and pink, Marinette and Adrien were gone and replaced with embracing Chat Noir and Ladybug.

"We'll be okay," he told her.

"We're both better real than on pedestals," she added softly as she drew back.

Chat smiled and tugged on one of her pigtails. "You got that right, Bugaboo."